Abstract Objective to analyze the beginning of the student movement, through the creation of the Academic Center of the School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto, a representative body of the student segment, and the actions developed during the first board. Method study from a historical perspective, with a Micro-History approach and documental analysis to treat the sources, with a temporal delimitation from 1953 to 1954. Results documentary sources were found in paper support and interviews carried out with graduates of the course. The creation was founded on December 17, 1953. During the period investigated, the entity promoted leisure and sports activities, actions to recruit and improve the school's visibility, communicated with other student organizations, financial management, and exposed concern for the political, student, and social issues. Final considerations and implications for practice triangulation of sources and literature corroborate several issues documented in the minutes of the first administration and contribute to revealing part of the history of the student movement in the 1950s and of Ribeirão Preto School of Nursing itself.